CARTOON: “Hasta La Vista, Marco”

From cartoonist Clay Jones on “Hasta La Vista, Marco,” how he’ll miss drawing Marco Rubio’s platform shoes, and the remaining religious zealot

Marco Rubio has dropped out of the presidential race, and it’s a tragedy that makes me very sad. I was just starting to enjoy drawing the religious zealot. The only candidate left promising to rule us all by the hand of God now is Ted Cruz. Did I just get a chill?

Rubio lost in his home state of Florida to Donald Trump. He didn’t just lose. He lost big. He only won one county, his home of Miami-Dade. It’s as if nobody in Florida had ever heard of their senator … or in his case, they were very familiar with him and didn’t like what he had to offer or his performance as senator. Rubio started running for the presidency as soon as he won his Senate seat.

I worked in Batesville, Miss., for five years, and in that time I probably talked in person to then-senator Trent Lott seven times. The mayor of Tampa said he never met Marco Rubio.

Now Rubio can spend the next four years running for the presidency in 2020, but not on the taxpayer’s dime. I’m sure he’ll get plenty of job offers from think tanks and consulting firms.

I am going to miss his bottles of water and platform heels. I won’t miss his condescending tone of speech. Being humbled may be good for Marco. Let’s hope it’s a lesson his rival Ted Cruz learns very soon … and after that, Donald Trump. Who am I kidding? These people don’t have the ability of understanding reality to be humbled.

claytoonz.com/2016/03/16/hasta-la-vista-marco